1. Setting the Scene

Abstract

Overview The thesis is based on the argument that we know little about the process of design as it occurs within a real world context, and as a consequence have little understanding about how to provide technology to support it. We therefore need better ways to conceptualise design activity within its context of action. To bridge this gap in our understanding, the research in this thesis attempts to examine the mechanisms used to coordinate the work of engineering designers in the construction industry. This information is used to develop novel technologies that are appropriate to the needs and concerns of design workers in the domain, and is expanded to cover the larger area of design in general. A study of engineering design work in situ was performed and this was analysed within a framework based on the information processing metaphor of cognitive science. The results of the work demonstrate that design behaviour does not involve a simple mapping of problem onto solution as claimed by current research in cognitive science. Instead, behaviour results from the complex and interdependent interactions-of the organisational relationships between design workers, between individuals and artefacts, and between the individuals and their context of action. These interactions are crucial in determining the final outcome of the design process. The understandings about engineering design generated through the study do not supplant current the understanding of design, but augments it by specifying the design process at a systems level, rather than at an individual level. This approach to the study of design is important in developing technology to support design work because it removes the emphasis on tools for problem solving by individuals and reassigns it towards tools to support human communication. For the technology to augment the design process, tools developed for communication must be integrated with the procedures involved in the organisation of work, the social protocols that the design workers use to manage informal communications, and the other artefacts that they use. This is achieved by detailing and making explicit the resources and constraints available to design workers in the construction industry. The results of the study allow technology developers an insight into the collaborative design process, Distributed cognition and computer supported collaborative design. 1 Introduction-the road ahead demonstrating where (and on occasions, where not) technologies could be introduced to design work. Historically, the thesis was intended to examine the role of models in the creation …